State forest

“ About 23,000 square miles are still counted as forested, and in some limited areas one may still find considerable virgin forest. A state forestry commission is now operative, and active measures are being taken to restore and more carefully preserve the forests. ”

“ Is it too much to hope that before the close of another decade every state and territory will have a school of forestry, and that all national forest domains will have been brought under rational supervision and control? ”

“ About the middle of the 18th century the recognition of the importance of forestry led to a severance of the forest and hunting interests, and it became the practice to place the direction of the former into the hands of some more or less competent man—a state forester—usually under the fiscal branch or treasury department of the general administration. ”

“ In the higher mountains, fir and spruce with some pine and larch form the forest; but broadleaf forest, especially [325] oak and beech is the prevailing type occupying the middle altitudes and the hill country. The private forest of small owners is being rapidly depleted, only the State forest and that of large proprietors being in good condition. ”

“ I urge that all our National parks adjacent to National forests be placed completely under the control of the forest service of the Agricultural Department, instead of leaving them as they now are, under the Interior Department and policed by the army. ”

“ In natural areas, old trees and surrounding vegetation are subject only to minimum management so that visitors may read living history as written on the land. In wilderness and wild areas, timber cutting is not allowed. Those primitive lands, 141⁄2 million acres in all, have been dedicated by the Forest Service to wilderness use and are protected in their natural state for those who enjoy extensive foot or horseback travel in serenity and solitude.
Each forest resource and each of the many uses of resources is needed in the pattern of a growing Nation. ”

“ The State forests are of two classes: Reserves in which all cutting is forbidden, only some 200,000 acres; and those in which licenses to cut may operate. Such licenses are given for one year and for a price of 100 piastres. The villagers have free use of the less valuable woods, their only obligation being to assist in protection against fire and theft.
A real forest service was not instituted until 1901 a director with four assistants being placed in charge under the Department of Agriculture. ”

“ Forestry is most largely undertaken in this country by the national government, partly because some forest areas in the West extend over state boundaries, and largely because large tracts of public forest lands were still unsold at the time public attention was attracted to the subject. Since 1890, the policy of reserving great areas for forests, and picturesque districts for national parks, has developed greatly in the United States. ”

“ The forest policy of the Administration appears to enjoy the unbroken support of the people. The great users of timber are themselves forwarding the movement for forest preservation. All organized opposition to the forest preserves in the West has disappeared. Since the consolidation of all Government forest work in the National Forest Service there has been a rapid and notable gain in the usefulness of the forest reserves to the people and in public appreciation of their value. ”

“ Much is now being done for the States of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains through the development of the national policy of irrigation and forest preservation; no Government policy for the betterment of our internal conditions has been more fruitful of good than this. The forests of the White Mountains and Southern Appalachian regions should also be preserved; and they can not be unless the people of the States in which they lie, through their representatives in the Congress, secure vigorous action by the National Government. ”

“ At present the protection of the forest reserves rests with the General Land Office, the mapping and description of their timber with the United States Geological Survey, and the preparation of plans for their conservative use with the Bureau of Forestry, which is also charged with the general advancement of practical forestry in the United States. These various functions should be united in the Bureau of Forestry, to which they properly belong. The present diffusion of responsibility is bad from every standpoint. ”

“ Wise forest protection does not mean the withdrawal of forest resources, whether of wood, water, or grass, from contributing their full share to the welfare of the people, but, on the contrary, gives the assurance of larger and more certain supplies. The fundamental idea of forestry is the perpetuation of forests by use. ”

“ Half of our Nation's forestlands belong to private landowners, the Federal Government and State governments own 40 percent, and the forest products industry owns the remaining 10 percent. All three groups have been working together to ensure the sustainable development of our forests and woodlands. ”

“ The legislature shall further provide for the acquisition of lands and waters, including improvements thereon and any interest therein, outside the forest preserve counties, and the dedication of properties so acquired or now owned, which because of their natural beauty, wilderness character, or geological, ecological or historical significance, shall be preserved and administered for the use and enjoyment of the people. ”

“ State-owned forestry enterprises and public institutions shall prepare forest management plans, specify measures for the cultivation, management, and protection of forests, and implement the measures with the approval of the competent authorities of forestry of people's governments at or above the county level. The forest management plans for key forest areas shall be implemented with the approval of the competent authority of forestry of the State Council. ”

“ The protection of National Forest grazing interests is secured by the prevention of overgrazing, by the prevention of damage to roads, trails, or water sources, by the proper bedding of sheep and goats, by the proper disposition of carcasses, by salting the stock and by the proper observation of the national and state live stock and quarantine laws. ”

“ In order that the reader may fully appreciate the gigantic task that has been accomplished in bringing the National Forest administration and organization to its present state of development, it is necessary to briefly sketch the conditions that led up to the inauguration of the Federal Forest Policy before we stop to consider that policy and the establishment and organization of National Forests.
Prodigality Leads Finally to Conservation. Every great movement, which has for its object the betterment of the lot of mankind, lags far behind the times. ”

“ All of these combined comprise a very small part of the forests of most of the states, so that much larger areas must be acquired by the states and the national government to safeguard our future timber supplies.
Not less than thirty-two states are actually engaged in state forestry work. Many of them have well-organized forestry departments, which, in states like New York and Pennsylvania, having large areas of state forests, are devoted largely to the care and protection of these lands. In other states having no state forests, the work is largely educational in character. ”

“ Section 8 read: 'The lands now or hereafter constituting the forest preserve shall be forever kept as wild forest lands. They shall not be sold, nor shall they be leased or taken by any person or corporation, public or private.' The forest commission was created by the act, and in 1890 was authorized to 'purchase lands so located within such counties as include the forest preserve, as shall be available for the purposes of a state park,' and an appropriation was made for that purpose. ”

“ Today, Americans continue to be responsible stewards of national forests and grasslands. Through the commonsense management approach of my Healthy Forests Initiative, the Forest Service is working with State and local governments, tribes, and other Federal agencies to help prevent destructive wildfires, return forests to a healthier, natural condition, and maintain a full range of forest types. The Forest Service is also providing important work, education, and job training to citizens in need. ”

“ A field hitherto narrow but continually broadening, and offering much opportunity for those with peculiar qualifications, is the management of the coöperative forest work carried on by timber owners in many localities, often jointly with State and Government. ”

“ In the administration of the national forest reserves, the introduction of conservative lumbering on the timber tract of the lumberman and the woodlot of the farmer, in the practical solution of forest problems which affect every industry and every activity of the nation, the members of this society have an unexampled field before them. ”

“ For the woods planted by state-owned enterprises, public institutions, government agencies, groups, and the military, the planting organizations shall conduct tending of woods, and dispose the benefits generated from the woods in accordance with the provisions issued by the State.
The woods planted by rural residents at house sides and on plots of cropland and hilly lands allotted for private use are owned by the individuals. ”

“ The best use of the public grazing lands requires the careful examination and classification of these lands in order to give each settler land enough to support his family and no more. While this work is being done, and until the lands are settled, the Government should take control of the open range, under reasonable regulations suited to local needs, following the general policy already in successful operation on the forest reserves. ”

“ About 10% of the land area, or 4 million acres are under forest, although 2 million more are wooded with olive, fig, almond plantations, or open woodlands and brushwood. Of the actual forest area the State owns only 82,000 acres, 30,000 of which reforested areas or sand dunes in process of recovery. ”

“ Wherever the native vegetation has been allowed to remain, as, for instance, here and there around a sacred temple or imperial burying ground, there are still huge trees and tangled jungle, fragments of the glorious ancient forests. The thick, matted forest growth formerly covered the mountains to their summits. All natural factors favored this dense forest growth, and as long as it was permitted to exist the plains at the foot of the mountains were among the most fertile on the globe, and the whole country was a garden. ”

“ The current state of our forests requires our government, citizens, and the forestry industry to examine past and current forest management practices and to develop new strategies. We are moving toward a new era in stewardship with increased emphasis on forests that are diverse, robust, productive, and sustainable. ”

“ The ownership by the State and a conservative use of the mountain forest is necessitated by the protective value of the forest cover, the cultivation of the extensive rice fields being dependent upon irrigation. ”

“ The State shall coordinate urban and rural afforestation and land greening, carry out large-scale land greening campaigns, green and beautify urban and rural areas, promote construction of forest cities, facilitate rural revitalization, and build a beautiful homeland. ”

“ The forest cover upon the drainage basins of streams used for irrigation purposes is of prime importance to the interests of the entire State. Now keep in mind that the whole object of forest protection is, as I have said again and again, the making and maintaining of prosperous homes. ”

“ The coöperation of the Federal Government, under a provision of the Weeks Law which appropriates small sums of money for forest protection, provided the state will appropriate an equal or greater amount, has done much to encourage the establishment of systems of forest protection in many of the states. ”

“ We should acquire in the Appalachian and White Mountain regions all the forest lands that it is possible to acquire for the use of the Nation. These lands, because they form a National asset, are as emphatically national as the rivers which they feed, and which flow through so many States before they reach the ocean. ”

“ Every proper effort should be made to put land to uses for which it is adapted. The reforestation of land best suited for timber production is progressing and should be encouraged, and to this end the forest taxation inquiry was instituted to afford a practical guide for public policy. Improvement has been made in grazing regulation in the forest reserves, not only to protect the ranges, but to preserve the soil from erosion. ”

“ The State shall establish natural reserve system with national parks as its main body in typical forest ecological regions, forest regions wherein rare and precious animals and plants grow and breed, natural tropical rain forest regions and other natural forest regions with special values of protection in different natural zones, so as to strengthen protection and management. ”

“ Reclamation and irrigation projects, where waste land may be made available for settlement and productivity, are worthy of your favorable consideration.
When it is realized that we are consuming our timber four times as rapidly as we are growing it, we must encourage the greatest possible cooperation between the Federal Government, the various States, and the owners of forest lands, to the end that protection from fire shall be made more effective and replanting encouraged. ”

“ Much progress in forestry has been made during the past year. The necessity for perpetuating our forest resources, whether in public or private hands, is recognized now as never before. The demand for forest reserves has become insistent in the West, because the West must use the water, wood, and summer range which only such reserves can supply. ”